Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Reprising Florida 2K in Ohio will NOT be Tolerated

Michael Barone lays the smack down on Kedwards' "We'll fight on" BS with a surprising quantity of "bark on":

"The Democratic party must now decide whether it wants to be consumed by rage against purported 'unfair' [i.e. it didn't favor them] vote-counting or wants to try to win a majority of American voters in fair elections.

"It was perhaps understandable that Democrats felt they were robbed in 2000, when their nominee won a plurality of the popular vote and lost Florida by only the narrowest of margins. But the Democrats need to admit that the post-election audits of the votes by their friends in the national media could find no scenario in which Al Gore actually won more votes in Florida than George W. Bush. And this time Bush has a large national popular vote plurality—at this time a [3.5 million]-vote popular vote plurality, with a 51% majority of popular votes for George W. Bush...

"In 2000 Democrats declined to contest New Hampshire's 7,211-vote plurality for Bush, even though New Hamsphire's four electoral votes would have given Gore 271 electoral votes and the presidency. A party that is consumed by rage at its defeat rather than one which is dedicated to interpreting the popular will is not a party that can command popular support. The Democrats have lost the presidency, have lost seats in the Senate (including, apparently, despite the Indian reservations, the seat of Minority Leader Tom Daschle) and have lost seats in the House of Representatives needs to take a different approach. How long will it take the Democrats to learn that lesson?"

Or are they even capable of learning it?

If Kerry tries to sue despite being mathematically eliminated in Ohio, it will be the gotterdammerung of the Democrat party.

Here's a prediction: Look for Clinton operatives to start a "unity/national reconcilation/for the good of the country" pitch very soon. After all, Hillary's 2008 ambitions require a nationally viable and competitive political platform, and I can't believe she and Bill are going to let two tomato cans like Opie and Spinchter-Mouth use it for a kamikaze run.

Four years ago it served Dem purposes to take the country to the brink of constitutional chaos over Florida. Even if Gore lost, they could lay the groundwork for bringing down Bush in 2004. That effort has failed. Like Republicans after 1996, it is now in their best interests to come to grips with the fact that the man they hate simply got the best of them, and, yes, "move on."

It's how we got the White House back in 2000. It's their best shot to return the favor four years from now.

That's a lesson the Clintons will learn, even if Kedwards will not. And they'll damn well make it stick.

UPDATE: Kerry just called Bush to concede. Wow, that didn't take long.

Of course, he also lectured the President about "dividing the country," showing for any who had any doubt that he'll be a pompous ass until he's lowered into his grave.